


The American Way

by trashkingtater



Category: Marvel 616
Genre: Clint's Broken Nose, First Impressions, Misunderstandings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-08
Updated: 2020-05-08
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:14:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24071989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trashkingtater/pseuds/trashkingtater
Summary: Set in Captain American #37.Steve Rogers is dead and the world is screaming for help. There's a new Captain America on the scene and trying to help, but Clint Barton decides to take things into his own hands to see if this newcomer is truly worthy of the title.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes & Clint Barton
Comments: 6
Kudos: 17





	The American Way

**Author's Note:**

> Shout out to literally every person on twitter who follows me and put up with me live tweeting trying to find the first Bucky/Clint interaction because it was ridiculous. I love y’all for putting up with my weird bullshit at 3am. 
> 
> Also, there's a personal headcanon I have in here that Clint's got a slightly offset nose that's barely noticeable just bc he's broken it so many times.

The streets are littered with trash from the continuous riots, and there are stragglers of people passed out on the sidewalks from all the fighting. Clint wishes he could stop and help each and every one of them, but there’s higher stakes at play currently. He may be talented, but he’s only human. He wishes he were more like Steve by the day and-

He shakes off the longing thoughts of his lost friend and mentor. He can’t let himself be overwhelmed now, not when America is falling apart at the seams. 

It’s been a few days since Sam contacted him last, but it doesn’t take a genius to tell that there’s a mastermind behind America’s decline. The politicians have to be in on it, too, at this point, he reasons. There’s no other justifiable explanation that things fell to shit this quickly. The stock market is barely holding on, the housing market is in shambles, people are losing their homes left and right and the whole country is terrified out of their minds. He’s not sure who’s behind everything, yet, but he’ll find out soon. 

He passes an electronics store, and the headline is what catches him. “New Captain America?” He freezes in his tracks as he sees the red, white, and blue outfit flash across the screen and-

It’s not Steve. His heart is in his throat because for a moment he thought-

He shakes off the thought and goes back to the clip. Whoever it is, he has the shield with him which means Tony must have found someone else to take him up on the offer to replace Captain America. It hits Clint harder than he expected even though he knew this would happen. He always figured Tony would offer the shield up to someone else when he declined, but the anger is still there, bubbling underneath his skin. 

He turns on his heels and heads back to the place he’s been lying low the past few days. Clint looks online to find a few shaky videos of the new guy’s fighting style, and it’s nothing like Steve. He’s very precise and skilled, but down to the very way he moves – it’s different. When the new Cap pulls out a gun, Clint nearly loses it as his anger reemerges tenfold. The Steve that Clint knows would never pull a gun out like that. 

He takes a deep breath in and lets it out slowly. He decides then and there that it’s up to him to try to fix this mess before it goes any further.

Tracking down the new Cap is the easy part for Clint. He’s trained in all sorts of useful shit over the years, and finding people is easily one of the skills he’s mastered. He’s still brimming with anger though, and so instead of running in he tucks himself into an empty apartment across the street to watch and cool off. He doesn’t want to compromise himself on this. 

The first sign of movement he registers is definitely the new Cap. Not many people move like they’re built for destruction. He notices the metal arm quickly, though, and curses. He may not keep up as much with Shield intel as he used to, but Sam fills him in enough for Clint to spot Bucky Barnes. That complicates things. 

He sees a secondary body moving and recognizes her almost immediately. Natasha Romanoff, ex-girlfriend, close friend, Shield agent, and trustworthy. He tries to make out their conversation, but he can only see Nat’s mouth and from this distance and his hiding spot, he’s only catching half of her words. He sees her approach Barnes, lean in, and they share a small kiss as Clint rolls his eyes. She’s always been dramatic. Barnes turns away from her and towards the window and catches sight of him smiling, and wow. That’s not really what he expected him to look like. Nat glances over Barnes' shoulder and out the window, making eye contact with Clint before she makes for the exit, subtly making it apparent that she knows Clint’s been watching. 

He’s not exactly sure how to feel about that. 

It’s another few hours before Clint feels he’s ready to handle approaching Barnes. Watching the other man train for hours with the shield makes him feel marginally better that he’s taking this seriously, but he’s still not settled enough to not make contact. 

Clint’s silent as he crosses the street and lets himself into the building, up the stairs, and into the apartment. He’s quiet enough that Barnes doesn’t detect him, so after the rebound of the next throw of the shield, he intercepts it. 

“Wondered when you were going to come out of hiding, Barton.” Barnes says to him casually, as if Clint didn’t just break in. Clint’s eyes narrow at the man in front of him. 

“You know who I am?” He asks. 

“Sure, almost mistook you for the Iron Fist for a second there, but his nose isn’t as crooked.” He replies easily. His calm demeanor doesn’t throw Clint off his game, but his hand does tighten on the shield. 

“Seems your eyes work fine, but it’s too bad you don’t have any brains. Because either you’re an idiot, or you’re just straight up disrespectful waving a gun around like that as Cap.”

“I don’t fucking answer to you,” Barnes growls, and it’s the first genuine emotion Clint’s heard out of the guy. 

“No, but if you gave a single shit about Steve you’d reconsider picking up the shield at all.” Clint then drops the shield and swings his leg up and out, straight towards Barnes' head. Barnes dodges, naturally, but Clint expects that and is already twisting back around with a sharp uppercut which-

Barnes catches Clint’s fist in his metal hand. 

The surprise Clint feels must be apparent on his face, because Barnes just gives him a half smirk and says, “Yeah, Steve taught me that one, too.”

Clint’s chest tightens for a moment before it finally hits him just who he’s dealing with. Bucky Barnes, not just the Winter Soldier, but the kid who fought next to Steve from the very beginning. “Shit,” he mumbles to himself, before swiping a hand over his face. 

“Listen, Barton, if you disapprove? Tough shit. I’m going to keep doing this my way because at the end of the day, I’m not Steve.” Barnes' voice is unwavering, but it’s still softer than Clint would have expected from him. Like he understands what he's going through and Clint really doesn’t know what to do with that right now. 

“I’m not going to spill my shit everywhere, but just do right by him, Buck. That’s all I care about.” He says, before turning away, unable to deal with another reminder of something else that Steve left behind. “Guess I’ll see you around,” he calls as he disappears through the door before Barnes can respond. 

He keeps it together, but only just so. He holds onto the fact that if anyone in the world cares as much about Steve’s legacy as he does, that it’s probably Bucky Barnes. 

**Author's Note:**

> I don’t know if my references to Steve are 100% accurate because I’ve barely gotten into his wiki, much less the actual comics. I’m catching up very, very slowly. (Let’s be honest, I’m still bullshitting a lot of this.) Eventually I want to expand on this with a sequel, but I've got two other massive projects I'm working on so it'll be a while before that happens.


End file.
